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Wreck kills off-duty police officer

An off-duty officer with the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department who was a new father was killed Wednesday in a motorcycle crash.

Patrol Officer John Wayne Allen took a break Wednesday from fighting crime on "one of the toughest beats in the city" to go Christmas shopping for his girlfriend and 10-month-old daughter, police said.

Allen, 23, was riding his Suzuki motorcycle south on Abercorn Street around 12:30 p.m. when he tried to change lanes, Chief Michael Berkow said. As Allen moved over, an SUV pulled out of a driveway and merged into Allen's lane.

Allen's motorcycle struck the back of the SUV, ejecting him from the bike near the intersection of Dutchtown Road.

Paramedics rushed Allen, who suffered critical injuries, to Memorial Health University Medical Center. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

The driver of the SUV, 72-year-old Daisy Mock, was not injured.

By the time police arrived to investigate the wreck, Allen already had been placed inside the ambulance. They did not know it was Allen until they found a badge, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wilson said.

It was a badge from one of their own.

The discovery sent a wave of concern across hundreds of police radios and cell phones.

Dozens of officers - including the chief, the assistant chief and other command staff members - rushed to Memorial.

That's when they learned Allen had died.

"It's like losing a member of your family," Lt. Philip Reilley said. "We work in the hardest part of the city. We all depend on each other. Everybody is distraught."

Allen was only on the force for a little over a year but already had become a part of the SCMPD family.

Allen grew up in Illinois, working at his family's business, Allen May Tag Home Appliance Center as a salesman, police said. He graduated from high school in 2002 and moved with his family to Savannah. He immediately took a job doing what he knew: delivery and sales.

He worked for H&H of Savannah, but his heart wasn't in it, police said.

On June 27, 2005, Allen joined SCMPD. He graduated from the Southeast Regional Police Academy and was sworn in as an officer on Oct. 28, 2005.

He went to work in the Central Precinct and was assigned to Cuyler-Brownville, Reilley said.

"He had one of the toughest beats in the city," said Reilley, Allen's supervisor. "He loved the challenge of chasing down bad people. It was like a game of hide-and-seek to him. And he loved to come tell his boss what he did."

In April, Allen was injured while helping chase down a suspected rapist. Police accused the man, a convicted felon, of posing as an exterminator, forcing his way into a Blackshear Homes apartment and raping a teenage girl.

Allen grabbed the suspect as he tried to dive through a closed second-story window to elude officers.

Last month, Allen arrested a man after the man assaulted Allen with a trash can at Deja Groove, police said. Allen had to use pepper spray and wrestle the suspect to the ground.

To Allen, it was all part of the job.

"He enjoyed this job immensely and was adapting very well to it," Reilley said.

Allen viewed his job with the police as a future and a way to take care of his new family, including 10-month-old Makayla.

On Wednesday, Allen was on his way to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend, officers said.

He also looked forward to celebrating Christmas with his brother, Jessie Allen, who was recently discharged from the military after being injured by an explosive in Iraq, Reilley said.

Now, Allen's extended family - his brothers and sisters who wear badges - will take care of them.

Officers took shifts sitting at Allen's Guyton home and making food for the family.

"The Metropolitan Police Department is doing everything it can to support the family and our own officers, many of whom are also struggling with this sudden loss," Berkow said.

As the word spread across southeast Georgia, officers from neighboring agencies called SCMPD to express condolences and offer support.

"It definitely had a ripple effect, not only throughout our agency, but the other two neighboring agencies who lost officers this month," Wilson said.

Effingham County Sheriff's Deputy Dennis Wright died in a crash Nov. 17. Bryan County Sheriff's Sgt. Michael Larson died in a crash Dec. 10.

Hundreds of officers from Georgia and South Carolina attended the deputies' funerals. Arrangements for Allen's funeral are pending.

After leaving Memorial Wednesday afternoon, Berkow returned to his office to find a letter on his desk from Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie. The letter thanked SCMPD officers for patrolling Effingham streets during Wright's funeral.